For players and coaches alike, finding the perfect fit when training or teaching can be difficult. How do you find that perfect coach, or subsequently, how does a teaching professional acquire clients in an ever competitive American market that will highlight their skill-set and philosophies? The answer to these difficult questions has arrived with the advent of PlayYourCourt. Now, more than ever, an aspiring or seasoned player can receive great coaching whenever it’s convenient for them and witness “real” improvement to their games in a short period of time.
PlayYourCourt has not only become the easiest way for a player to acquire a tennis lesson, but it has allowed for the thousands of coaches States-side to add even more lessons to their weekly schedule. Yes, it’s very easy.
Founded by PlayYourCourt CEO Scott Baxter, the company has enjoyed tremendous success in an every growing market and there’s no indication that the demand for quality lessons—in a convenient manner—will be slowing down.
Here’s how PlayYourCourt works:
After signing up and entering your ZIP code, the PlayYourCourt Team will:
– Find you Tailored Instruction: They will hand pick the best local instructor based on your specific tennis goals.
– Provide Flexible Scheduling: Lessons have to work around your busy schedule, right?
– Convenient Location: As you can see, the trend here is convenience. PlayYourCourt will ensure to find that perfect coach nearest to you.
Here’s PlayYourCourt CEO Scott Baxter breaking down just how easy to receive a quality tennis lesson near you.
Being an award winning tennis coach myself and teaching for over 20 years, I’ve never seen such an organized company like PlayYourCourt that is truly looking to cater to the development and enjoyment of any level of player. From a coaching perspective, PlayYourCourt can really boost your exposure and hours on court as their extensive data-base of players and coaches works with any level of play or teaching style.
*****
In the Q&A below, I sat down with PlayYourCourt CEO Scott Baxter to understand the full scope of his business model and how his idea is sure to change the way players take tennis lessons from now on.
1) What was the main reason for starting PlayYourCourt?
A) I was working at a very expensive private club in D.C. and every day I had members come in and ask me where their non-member friends could go to get good tennis instruction. The truth was there really wasn’t anywhere convenient nearby so I started working with some of these non-members on public courts and the demand was way higher than I ever expected. I saw pretty quickly how hard it was to get good tennis instruction unless you were extremely wealthy, so I launched PlayYourCourt.com to make quality tennis instruction more accessible to the masses.
2) What would you consider the No. 1 benefit of a player/coach using this service?
A) Convenience. Coaches use our service to fill in holes in their schedules or generate the extra lesson revenue they need to make ends meet. Customers use our service because it’s more convenient and affordable than driving to the nearest “local” club (which can sometimes be 30+ minutes away) or joining a country club with steep initiation and monthly fees.
3) How do you ensure that a player will get the best coaching possible relative to their skill set?
A) We go through an extensive interview process to really understand the specific ages and skill levels with which each of our coaches is most comfortable. From there we also use a rating system very similar to Uber or Yelp. After each lesson our customers rate our coaches and we use this data to rank our coaches for different subsets of players to ensure we are always pairing our students with a top-rated coach who is perfect for their specific needs.
4) Can you see this service being used on a mass scale? If so, would it work in other countries as well?
A) We have over 1,000 coaches working for us in the US already and we’re open in just about every major metropolitan market so we’re already serving a pretty sizable market. We definitely have plans of scaling this to other countries in the future.
5) How convenient is it for someone out of a certain state or the country to find a coach to hit with on short notice?
A) Very convenient. We pride ourselves on connecting coaches and students within 24 hours and we do everything we can to make sure the lessons are scheduled as quickly as possible at a time and location that is convenient for the student. We even have a full-time “lesson concierge” with the sole responsibility of making sure the lesson scheduling process is handled as smoothly as possible.
6) What’s the highest caliber of player that has used PlayYourCourt? Is it really a service for anyone?
A) We regularly have former Division I college players and top ranked juniors use our service. We really do offer service to all ages and skill levels from 3 year old beginners to top ranked division I college players. We have several coaches on our platform that were previously ranked in the top 100 on tour and have experience coaching professional players including former world number 10, Vince Spadea.
7) What’s the biggest personal reward you have gained since starting PlayYourCourt?
The biggest reward I’ve been given in growing PlayYourCourt is making a sport that has done so much for me personally more accessible to the masses. I regularly receive thank you emails from parents and players that use our service saying they had always wanted to play tennis, but before PlayYourCourt they couldn’t afford to join a country club or didn’t have the time to drive to the nearest public facility. Growing a sport I truly love is a great feeling.
*****
Networking is the name of the game. If you’re serious about improving your skills this Spring/Summer then PlayYourCourt is the ideal site for any beginner to advanced level player.
Sign up for PlayYourCourt today through the following link and receive $40 off your next lesson package, courtesy of TennisConnected.
Here’s to a great Spring/Summer season ahead of improving your game!
